Laptops - Mac vs. Windows

[donsullivan]

Interesting you are on a Mac 13"...but talk about port issues on the Surface?

The Surface Laptop has only one USB 3.0 port and one MiniDisplayPort, both of which use different cables. and then a 3rd proprietary interface for the power adapter. On the MBP, with its 4-Thunderbolt3 ports, all the cables for everything are the same and I can plug everything into any of the 4 ports. The MBP is an infinitely more configurable and forward-looking connectivity configuration.

The Surface laptop is a nice machine but built-in connectivity is indeed limited.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Hey there old (young) friend. Have not kept up with you. Interesting you got into Asset Management. Not what I would have predicted for you....but, with your attention to detail, I suspect you are pretty darned good at it.

Hello there. I would not have predicted to get into Asset Management either, or like it as much as I do, but hey, that's the way things work out, I suppose. A recruiter found my LinkedIn profile shortly after I graduated college and called me about my first position with this company, which was as an administrator for their IT project management department. I learned a ton in that role, including that I didn't want to go into IT project management. They liked me, though, so when this role opened up, they offered it to me. I like that, at least at my company, Asset Management involves a good bit of finance and accounting, which was a huge part of my degree, so I get to not only learn about different pieces of software and computers, but put my degree to use, which is a wonderful thing that the very expensive piece of paper on my wall isn't completely useless.

You make a lot of good points. Ports, in particular. I have to carry a dongle around, when I moved to the Razer. I chose this one:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...MIyMiLpN-p2wIViT2BCh2-tgOaEAQYASABEgKGlfD_BwE

It's really good. I actually have other users on it as well.

You just reminded me I need to grab a port that has an Ethernet adapter on it...

That was the only thing I didn't like about this laptop, but it's a small trade off for having an otherwise lightweight, powerful computer.

Surface, however, has been a bit iffy. I had a first gen Surface and a 2nd gen Surface Pro...and couldn't really mesh how poor they were as tablets, and how poor they were as laptops. I did not invest in the more recent versions.

How have your users responded to those vs traditional laptops? I mean in the sense that they actually do more than browse the company intranet, browse the web, and check emails (which, frankly, can be done on any tablet)....

They seem to like them. We give out the Thinkpads as the "standard" and the Surfaces are available upon request, so if they get one, it's because they've asked for them. We buy the good ones with the i5 processors (I didn't check how much RAM they had when I did my last report...) so they're fairly comparable as far as power to our traditional laptops.

Also, as a side note, what is your client administration plan for client rotation and lifespan? Do you all have one? I've run across very few companies that do, but you speak like your company does, and I find that interesting.

It's not a firm plan, but we purchase a three year warranty with all of our laptops, so we try to rotate them out to employees every three years. Of course, it doesn't work 100% of the time; I'll get computers back and think to myself "I can't believe you were still using this" but that is the general policy. Oh, and then you'll get the employees who shouldn't be given nice things and have destroyed their laptops before then...

When I get the computers back, I pretty much recycle them if they're more than three years old and save them if they're less than three years old. We've been saving ones that are slightly older because our supply for interns/contractors (older machines) has been low, but that is our policy.

Further, for end user experience, does your organization rely upon client processing? Or do they use virtual desktops?

Nope, no virtual desktops. We're reliant on client processing.

 

[flynnibus]

its still amazing apple hasn't developed a great docking story... but I guess it's the fascination with thin... so they will always goto a thunderbolt or USB-C for any external vs putting a docking port.

 

[englanddg]

its still amazing apple hasn't developed a great docking story... but I guess it's the fascination with thin... so they will always goto a thunderbolt or USB-C for any external vs putting a docking port.

Frankly, docking isn't really an issue...

I remember when laptops actually had full docking stations (you probably do as well)...I don't think we should return to that.

I'm fine with the dongle approach.

 

[flynnibus]

Frankly, docking isn't really an issue...

I remember when laptops actually had full docking stations (you probably do as well)...I don't think we should return to that.

I'm fine with the dongle approach.

Once lenovo refined it... it was great. Apple instead went the "everything is wireless" justification... but power, display, etc. Thinkpad docks with the win7 era was pretty awesome. Silky smooth in and out... Earlier attempts often screwed up with display, or sleep or not, etc.

I end up not using the 28" monitor on my desk 95% of the time because I don't want to be bothered.. and the integrated pad+keyboard of the laptop is better on my lap than other random BT keyboards.

 

[englanddg]

Once lenovo refined it... it was great. Apple instead went the "everything is wireless" justification... but power, display, etc. Thinkpad docks with the win7 era was pretty awesome. Silky smooth in and out... Earlier attempts often screwed up with display, or sleep or not, etc.

I end up not using the 28" monitor on my desk 95% of the time because I don't want to be bothered.. and the integrated pad+keyboard of the laptop is better on my lap than other random BT keyboards.

Eh, I use TVs as my "monitors" generally...so, HDMI is important to me.

I hadn't thought about it from that direction. Thanks....

 

[DarthVader]

The sticker price for an off the shelf current mac is intense. Especially when you start comparing specs to other offerings.

, personally, have been on a Razer Blade 14"

Its funny, but looking more deeply at the Razer 15" and to be perfectly frank, its a very expensive laptop. its over 2k to start with on the base model. Granted you're getting a more robust computer then the current Macbook Pros, but still $$$$

The 15" is a very new model, but so far, it seems the early indication is that there some people complaining about the thermals on this bad boy, since I'm not a hard core gamer, so it may not be a major problem for me.

I am really liking the design of it.

Their price tags are absurd, IMO

I agree, but in doing my research they're not that much different then other premium laptop makers. I'm not defending Apple, but lamenting the fact that the "Apple Tax" has spread. I can save some good money on getting a Dell, XPS and like the Razer, its on my short list.

I've been a Mac user since 1984 and have never seriously considered anything else as my primary tool.

I'm platform agnostic, there's a lot of things I like about macOS, and there's a lot I like about windows. Both platforms have things going for (and against).

One thing that seems to bugging at me, is the news stories about Apple's class action lawsuit related to their iPhones bending. It seems Apple knew full well that the then new iPhone 6 was more likely to bend, but charged customers 160 dollars to fix the phones even though it was a design flaw. Bringing it back to the Mac, I just get the feeling Apple is more about their profit and loss statements and not about building quality any longer. I could be wrong, but when companies are aware of design defects and then charge customers to fix those defects, it rubs me the wrong way.

 

[DarthVader]

Just an update to where I stand on my laptop purchase.

I've been doing more research and its down to three potential computers.
Macbook pro, Razer and Dell XPS.
Dell has the nod with the price - I'm getting the most computer for least amount of money

I'll give Razer the nod for performance, thanks to the higher end GPU and also the display is 144Hz. The downside is that the Razer's thin design and inclusion of a fast GPU means this bad boy will run hot.

Apple wins in terms of a brighter display, a bit lighter and thinner, its running macOS which has its own benefits.

At the moment Dell and Razer are on Coffee Lake and Apple isn't, so I'm stuck in a holding pattern to see when apple updates their computer line. Additionally the keyboard for the Macbook Pro has me spooked. There's two class action suits on it being defective. The cost of the MacBook Pro with an extended warranty at the 3k mark. That's really a bitter pill to swallow - I paid (just) under 2k for my last MBP way back in 2012 and now its going to be at 3,000 if not more if you factor in taxes.

Customer support, Apple is number 1, Dell number 2 and as I mentioned above, Razer is further down the list. The problem is while Apple's CS is top notch, I'd rather not deal with any customer support, i.e., not dealing with a defective computer. To put it another way, if I don't need to call customer support at all, then does it matter how its rated? I feel like the way I use my computers and my kids, the keyboard will not last on the MBP, where as I'll not have that issue with the Dell and maybe the Razer.

 

[flynnibus]

my proposal... cut the spend in half and the decision is not as stressful 3k on a laptop these days? Unless its the tool that pays my salary... no way

 

[DarthVader]

my proposal... cut the spend in half and the decision is not as stressful 3k on a laptop these days? Unless its the tool that pays my salary... no way

This is one reason why I'm leaning towards the dell - the price. I can find deals to lower the cost even more, such as getting it at Costco.

 

[DarthVader]

I hate replying to mysel, but I'm nearly done and ready to pull the trigger. Here's what I found and why I'm going with the model I picked.

I was looking at Dell, since they're on coffee lake like Razer but for several hundred less then Razer I was moving to get that, however it seems Dell has throttling issues. In fact their Kaby Lake model was throttling, and then they threw in a 6 core CPU and its even more of an issue

Razer uses a vaper champer which is superior to heat pipes, and the Razer has less issues with throttling.

Macs are off the list because they've yet to upgrade to coffee lake, and in the past they skipped chipsets, i.e., stayed on Haswell for 2 years so while I don't think they'll skip coffee lake it is possible. Plus I don't want to wait until September of October. They also have a defective keyboard design that has generated three class action suits. I'm not sold we'll any redesign that addresses that issue anytime soon.

Dell as mentioned has some throttling issues, and tbh, I'm not really jazzed up about the design (such as the camera is on the bottom, ie., nose cam). I'm going to be using this quite often and if I don't like the look and feel, then why spend all that money. Next to Apple their customer support is great.

Razer. I love the design, it does look very Mac like in the fits and finish. Unlike the Mac its very upgradeable, ram and storage is easily swapped out. Like the Mac its priced very high . Customer support has a large question mark, history shows it be questionable at best, poor at worst. Recently they seemed to be spending time to make it better and things have improved but I am taking a chance

Here's a couple of YT reviews. I really like Dave2D and MobileTech Review. Both Dave and Lisa provide very good reviews of products. MobileTech's is very indepth as its 20 minutes.



No product is perfect, but I feel the Razer checks off many of my wants and must haves. I'll now have to wait for the model I want to be in stock (FHD, GTX 1060, 144Hz model)